A question that may have crossed people’s minds lately is: Why are people still buying magazines when they can see the same cover online for free?
This notion has crossed my mind a few times, but I often categorized it as a passing thought. The more I thought about it, though, the more interesting it became. With social media, a celebrity photo shoot can be reposted, screenshotted, and shared thousands of times before someone ever sees the magazine on a newsstand, yet physical copies can still sell out. Physical magazine covers have begun to feel less like a way to access content and more like something to collect.
When Digital Access Makes the Physical Feel Scarce
Bad Bunny’s i-D cover made this especially interesting to me. The images themselves were not scarce—they could easily be viewed digitally—but the physical issue was. Once that edition sold out, owning the magazine became different from simply seeing the cover.
It made me wonder whether some publishers are treating print almost like limited merchandise—something audiences can collect, display, and keep rather than simply consume. Magazine collecting is nothing new, but what feels different now is how scarcity can become part of the appeal when digital content is almost endlessly accessible.
So, what does any of this have to do with video advertising? More than it may seem.
When Video Advertising Becomes Fleeting
There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and video advertising may be proving it. Video gives marketers movement, sound, music, storytelling, and emotion, but consumers are surrounded by an enormous amount of it. That abundance can also be one of its weaknesses. A video may capture someone’s attention for a few seconds and disappear with the next swipe.
Compared with static communication, the volume of video advertising can make individual messages feel increasingly fleeting.
Capturing Attention Is Not the Same as Communicating
Thales Teixeira’s research emphasizes that marketers cannot assume viewers will give an ad sustained attention because the communication environment affects how much attention audiences are willing to provide. In the saturated field of video advertising, a video can go viral one second and be forgotten the next.
He also argues that capturing consumer attention has become increasingly difficult because audiences have countless alternatives and more ways to avoid advertisements. Teixeira further notes that when video becomes overly entertaining, consumers may focus on the content while failing to process the persuasive message or even the brand behind it.
Marketers can capture attention without necessarily communicating what they intended.
That distinction between getting attention and actually communicating is something I also explore in When Creativity Becomes the Message, where I look at how a creative idea can strengthen rather than distract from what a brand is trying to say.
The Format Should Match the Engagement You Want
This is not an argument that print is defeating digital media or that marketers should return to the past. Static communication cannot move, speak, or tell a story in the same way video can. But perhaps some of those limitations are becoming part of its renewed appeal.
A video may earn a few seconds of attention; a magazine can remain on a shelf for years.
The real question isn’t always which format can do more. It’s which format creates the type of engagement the marketer actually wants.
Mia Rosario 